Wednesday, 18 February 2015

And Then There Were Nine!

THREE debut novelists and two established authors
dipping their creative pens in the crime and mystery well for the first time
help bring a fresh look to the longlist for the 2015 Ngaio Marsh Award for Best
Crime Novel, revealed today. “It is fantastic to see more and more talented New
Zealand writers bringing their unique voices, perspectives, and interests to
one of the world’s most popular storytelling genres,” said Judging Convenor
Craig Sisterson. “Crime fiction is a broad church nowadays, and this year’s
excellent longlist illustrates that well. It will be very interesting to see
which of these books the judges prefer.” The nine longlisted titles are:

DROWNING CITY by Ben Atkins (Random House)

FIVE MINUTES ALONE by Paul Cleave (Atria)

DATABYTE by Cat Connor (Rebel ePublishers)

THE PETTICOAT MEN by Barbara Ewing (Head of Zeus)

A HISTORY OF CRIME: THE SOUTHERN DOUBLE-CROSS by
Dinah Holman (Ravensbourne Books)

TRILEMMA by Jennifer Mortimer (Oceanview
Publishing)

SWIMMING IN THE DARK by Paddy Richardson (Upstart
Press)

THE CHILDREN’S POND by Tina Shaw (Pointer Press)

FALLOUT by Paul Thomas (Upstart Press)

The judging panel (crime fiction experts from New
Zealand, Australia, the United States, United Kingdom and Iceland) will
announce the finalists in May. The winner will be revealed at a special event
held later this year in association with WORD Christchurch, which has supported
the Award since its establishment in 2010.